.LA Launches as First City-Specific Domain Extension

For anyone hoping to associate their website with rollerblading bikini babes and Ice Cube, GoDaddy has just opened up the domain extension .la for public registration, making Los Angeles the first city to "get" its own top-level domain extension (.nyc and more are on the way). The extension, previously most commonly associated with the Southeast Asian country Laos, is meant to "appeal to local business owners — those in Los Angeles and possibly also Louisiana — who haven't been able to secure the name of their businesses using .com, .net or .org extensions," according to Mashable. (Louisiana, intent on stealing more than just local filming.) Domains start at $39.99 a year, but GoDaddy is also auctioning a few hundred "premium" names, like abortion.la ($200), williammorris.la ($200 for, it should be noted, a nonexistent firm), dailynews.la ($5,000!), and oscaraward.la ($1,500).
· .LA [Official Site]